Bending Perceptions
by writingwillow
Summary: A student in Hogwarts, in Gryphandor, finds out he's a mutant, his power, he can change his gender at will. Rated for themes and later chapters. Up for adoption.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or X-men, or even One Piece, which I probably wont mention again, but if you know the series enough you should know why I mentioned it.**

Riley watched as the new first years stood nervously, waiting to be sorted and smiled softly, remembering when he was first sorted, how nervous he had been. He still didn't really understand why he had gotten into Gryphandor, it didn't really fit, and the sorting hat had nearly put him in Ravenclaw to begin with.

_'Yes, you would fit in well in Ravenclaw. All the same, it is there, takes a bit of digging but it **is **there' _Two years Riley had already spent in Gryphandor, he still didn't really understand it. He smiled warmly as each of the new Gryphandors ran to their table, sitting closer to the twins nearer to the end of the table.

As he turned his attention finally to the food appearing on the house tables, listening politely to the conversation around him. Something was off though. Riley shifted in his seat, trying to ignore the feeling crawling about underneath his skin and glancing around himself, hopeing no one else had noticed.

More than three years later found him, more or less, in the same position. Granted he had a better idea what the situation was. Riley never had felt right in his own skin. Durring the breaks durring his third year he had looked into things on his own. He hadn't been born a male, he was a hermaphrodite, his parents had decided to raise him as a male, and had him 'fixed' surgically as well. He doubted seriously if they ever intended on telling him that, and it also explained, in a way, one of the things he had felt was wrong all his life. When he was born his parents got the choice of what he would be, they chose wrong. From the begining Riley had never been a male, she was just playing the role her parents had assigned her.

She didn't know if it was her magic or something else, considering how she'd noticed it in her parents home around normal muggles though she'd never gotten any kind of letter about accidental magic from the ministry. Her body itself seemed determined to rectify what had gone wrong. Out of necessity though, considering her parents were set on her being a normal son, even if she happened to be a wizard, and all of her professors and classmates knew her as a male, she had learned to control the change, to a certain extent. She still changed fairly often and without much warning if she wasn't concentrating solely on her physical state. And much to her horror (particularly considering how she learned of this ability) if she concentrated hard enough she could also change the genders of those she came into contact with.

It was getting close to Christmas now, Riley, in her fifth year, was walking about Hogsmeade, happy just to get out of the school grounds for a bit. Suddenly she saw a pair of footprints rapidly appear and disappear through the crowd, without anyone attached, and she decided to follow, easy enough considering the twins' younger brother and his friend ran past her, apparently following at as well, she just decided to take it a a more dignified pace.

She lost the tracks somewhere along the way, and was walking about outside the perimiter of the village when she was stopped. In the area in front of her were three muggles as she stared at them in shock.

"Hello miss Riley. I'm Professor Xavier, and these are my friends, Miss Ororo Monroe, and Logan." She looked at the three strangers in confusion for a moment before everything that was wrong with this particular situation occured to her, at least everything she was aware of. These three were obviously muggles, wizards didn't dress like that, certainly not without some kind of robes over it, and she'd never seen any sign that wizards would even know what a wheelchair was, considering the magical forms of medicine she was familiar with, it wasn't likely any would ever need one. And she was in Hogsmeade, a wizarding village close to Hogwarts, and muggles weren't supposed to know anything about wizards, even being there they shouldn't be able to see the school. But what confused her more than anything was how they had addressed her, _miss Riley_. Everyone she knew refered to her as a male. For all intents and purposes she was, she kept her body in that state for both her parents and for the fact that she belonged to Hogwarts as one of their male students, in the male dorm in Gryphandor tower. She may be rather effeminant for a boy, and often enough accused of being a pouf considering her lack of interest in girls, (granted she probably would be if she were a male... while she is... at any rate she was attracted to men and not women, but considering the confusion of her her own gender she wasn't sure, she didn't consider herself gay, but she didn't consider herself a male either).

Riley continued to watch the three unknown muggles nervously for a moment before deciding to try acting casual about everything.

"H-hello, I would introduce myself, but... you seem to already..."

"_She_ doesn't smell like a female Professor." the broad and muscular man, Logan, said, sniffing the air suspiciously. "You sure we got the right kid."

"Of course Logan, though there does seem to be some confusion on that particular matter." He turned again to Riley, whose mind was, rather quickly running through each of her possible options for what exactly she could do while trying to get into the least amount of trouble possible. "Miss Riley, I come from New York, where I house and train mutants to use their talents ethically."

"So... I'm a mutant?" she asked, half shocked, half just confused. "Better than the explanation I had I guess..."

"You didn't know?" Ororo asked, surprised. Riley shrugged looking slightly nervous.

"Well that's a bit odd, considering how often you've been using your powers. If you'd like, you could come back to the institute with us, we could get a read out of your gifts and help you learn how to use them." The surprise on her face only lasted a moment before giving way to nervousness again.

"I think we need to talk to the headmaster." she said nervously.

"Headmaster?" Logan asked.

"Of the school... the one I'm... but we can't get in..." Riley bit his lip nervously, thinking for a moment. "Stay here, I'll be back in a minute." And almost immediately she ran off.

"Professor?" Ororo asked, looking at the bald man.

"She's very confused at the moment. I didn't want to pry too far, but it seems she's currently attending an academy in the area, and there's some problem with us being here."

"So what're we gonna do?" Logan asked, slightly irritable.

"We'll wait for her." Xavier told them, "From what I could understand she's looking for a way to get us all in to the school so that she can explain what's happened."


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or X-men.**

Riley ran away from the, apparently mutants, hopeing he would run into one of the professors in Hogsmeade. While he didn't expect to find Dumbledore there, considering it was Christmas there was a good chance he could find someone else who could help him get three muggle mutants into the castle so that he could figure out what was going on. Obviously the spell on the castle worked, they didn't seem to know anything about the school, he probably looked like he was just lost out here. Still, what could he really say to explain anything to them without leaving, which certainly wouldn't be looked well upon by his professors, and how can he get them into the castle without telling them anything about magic, and that's before they have to deal with all those dementors around the castle. So far he figured his best bet was to just find one of the professors, explain what happened, as best he can anyway, and see if they can get in to see Dumbledore so he can see what his options really are. At least one of the professors could decide if it was better to just leave the three muggles there or if they should try to get them out of the area.

As Riley was nervously running about the village, he spotted three other students and skidded to a stop, falling over into the snow as he did.

"H-hey, you guys wouldn't happen to know if there were any professors in the village today?" He recognized one of them as the little brother of the Weasley twins before he recognized the other two as Hermione Granger and Harry Potter.

"Uh, yeah, try checking around the three broomsticks, I think McGonagall was there." Ron answered, looking confused. Hermione however seemed to realize the implications of asking for one of the professors, Riley wasn't exactly known for going for help unless it was unavoidable.

"Is something wrong?"

"Uh, not sure, I'll have to get back to you on that one..." Riley answered nervously, "Thank you though." He nodded to them before running off into the village heading for the little tavern. It only took Riley a few minutes to reach the tavern, but when she went to ask for Professor McGonagall she was told to wait while Madame Rosmerta went to the back to let the professor know he was looking for her.

A few minutes later Rosmerta came back out with Professor McGonagall, who looked him over thoughtfully before asking why he needed to see her.

"Well, uh, something to do with three muggles just outside of town asking me to go to their school..." Riley answered nervously. McGonagall looked surprised for a moment before her face turned serious.

"Did they seem to notice anything?" She asked quietly. Riley shook his head.

"They seemed to think I was lost, but I didn't think we could just leave them there."

"You said they wanted you to go to their school... what did you mean, and how did they find you here?" For a moment it looked like he might not answer. All the same, Riley sighed and looked down.

"They said it was a school for mutants, that I was one and that would have to be how they found me."

"What do you mean mutants?" Riley didn't know how to answer.

"Well, from what they said, I think something like muggles with some sort of power, only it isn't tied to any magical ability, or... I don't really know."

"And they think you are one?" Riley nodded.

"It makes some sense, or it did when they first said it to me..."

"I think we might need to see Professor Dumbledore on this one. The ministry will have to know, and Fudge is with Dumbledore already. You go back and find them and bring them up to the gates, I'll deal with the dementors so that we don't have an incident." McGonagall thanked Madam Rosmerta and Riley walked out behind her before running off to find the three muggles.

Professor Xavier was the only one still calm when he got back, albeit he was slightly breathless, knowing it had taken him more than just a few minutes to find his professor.

"Sorry about that, My professor said that she'll meet us at the front gates to let us in." He tried smiling, which seemed to work, at least for Ororo and Xavier, Logan looked pissed.

"It's no trouble," Ororo answered, "If you'll just lead the way."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or X-men.**

It didn't take Riley too long to lead the mutants up to the gates where Professor McGonagall was waiting for them. She looked the strangers over critically, but Xavier just smiled at her and she opened the gate. However the three weren't expecting it when his wheelchair refused to move past the gate. Xavier looked at the controls on the armrest, confusion evident on his face.

"You'll find that electronics of any kind will not work on school grounds, one of the enchantments to prevent the campus from being discovered by muggles." McGonagall informed them. Riley looked up at her from where he stood, closer to the mutants.

"Professor... um... should you have..."

"Mister Jacobs, They are already being permitted into the school grounds, magic is bound to come up eventually, and if it becomes neccisary to alter their memories then this will hardly matter."

"Of course Professor." Riley answered, blushing slightly.

"Magic?" the dark haired man, Logan, asked suspiciously as he stepped into the gate, looking in awe at the castle that he was suddenly able to see looming over the land around them. Behind him Miss Monroe pushed the wheelchair of a slightly embarassed looking Professor Xavier, who seemed to have had a bit of trouble getting the wheelchair to move over the grass. Riley looked at Professor McGonagall once more, to gauge her reaction, before she answered.

"The school I've been attending here is Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Magic is what the curriculum is made up of."

"Witchcraft and wizardry, does that make you a witch?" Miss Monroe asked curiously. Professor McGonagall frowned at the silver haired woman before turning her scowl to Riley.

"That would make Mister Jacobs a Wizard, and myself a Witch respectively." She answered. Riley looked away from them all uneasily. "Now, I've sent word ahead, so Professor Dumbledore should be waiting for us in his office with the minister. Come along." She led the way through the grounds towards the castle, just quick enough not to lose anyone as she went. Still, when she reached the steps to the impressive entrance to the castle she stopped, looking critically at the chair Xavier was bound to.

Before she had a chance to cast a spell however it levitated, seemingly of its own accord, and set him gently at the top. Riley and his Professor looked at him in shock.

"Is that your mutant ability?" Riley asked, blushing as soon as he'd said it. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean..." Xavier chuckled at her attempted cover up.

"Nothing to worry about. Yes, this is part of my gift, that of telekinesis." he answered her. "Would you like to know the abilities of the others?"

"Ah, no... Th-that's alright...um..." Riley stuttered, blushing. McGonagall looked at the four of them curiously before ushering them all into the castle and towards the headmaster's office, stopping only to tell the gargoyal the password to let them into the spiralling staircase leading to his office.

McGonagall nocked on the door lightly when they heard what sounded like a fairly one sided argument, and a soft voice told them to enter. At the far end of the room, past the whispering portraits of previous headmasters (which had Logan looking suspiciously around himself since he'd been in the castle) Dumbledore sat behind his desk, smiling kindly at them while Cornelius Fudge fidgetted nervously.

"You must be the mutants Minerva informed me of." Dumbledore said, looking at each of the mutants in turn, and eventually settling on Xavier.

"Yes, as we understand it." Charles said, "My name is Charles Xavier, I run a school for mutants in New York where I teach them to use and control their powers. These are my assosiates, Miss Ororo Munroe and Logan."

"What is this about, Dumbledore, they're muggles, we can't just..."

"You needn't worry so much Minister," Dumbledore interupted him, "They are here now, and unless Mister Xavier allows it, I don't believe a simple memory charm would be sufficient to remove the situation."

"Dumbledore, The ministry's..." This time he was interupted by the door as a tall sallow skinned man in billowing black robes strode quickly into the room, his face set into a scowl. Beside Ororo, Logan's claws lengthened from his hands, to the astonishment of most in the room. Ororo put her hand on his arm, giving him a stern look.

"I doubt it will progress to that Logan." she told him and, slowly, the claws shrank back into his skin.

_'Yes Logan, I'm not sure how much good it would do here anyway. Remember these people are wizards, we do not know what the are capable of.' _

"Professor Snape..." Riley greeted the man nervously. He smirked down at the boy, turning his attention back to Dumbledore.

"You sent for me." his voice was soft and drawling. The headmaster smiled at him, a slight twinkle in his eye as he nodded.

"Yes, I believed it would be wise for you to be informed of what is happening. It seems that our young Mister Riley here is a mutant and our visitors here have invited him to thier school to learn to control his abilities."

"A mutant?" Fudge asked, looking Riley over nervously. "What does that mean exactly Dumbledore? I'm sure we could just..."

"Calm down, Cornelius. I'm sure our guests won't mind explaining a few things."

"Of course," Xavier said calmly, smiling at the nervous minister. "Some time ago there was discovered a dormant gene existing in some that, when awakened, or activated, allowed certain talents to develop. Those of us with this gene activated are refered to as mutants. The gifts that this affords us are different for everyone however. For instance I am a telepath where Logan has an adamantium skeleton and claws, and Miss Monroe is able to control the weather."

"So you're muggles with special _'talents'_" Snape sneered. Logan growled back, though the potions professor didn't seem to react, outside of arching an eyebrow at the man.

"What exactly is a muggle?" Logan growled. To his surprise, it was Riley that answered.

"Muggles are non magical people, essentially, anyone who isn't a witch or wizard." Dumbledore nodded, smiling slightly as the mutants seemed to understand, they seemed to accept things well enough, but then, perhaps wizards and magic weren't actually so strange for them.

"And what would be Mister Riley's special talent?" Riley looked slightly uncomfortable at the turn in conversation as the attention was turned to him.

"We would like to learn that as well, I'm afraid he was too far for Cerebro to place his abilities when we located him." Xavier said, smiling at the young man shifting nervoulsy in front of them. Riley sighed heavily and looked at his feet nervously as he answered, unable to look anyone in the eye to admit it.

"I can change my gender at will." His face was bright red and he couldn't bring himself to look up at the people blinking at him in disbelief (everyone but Logan and Xavier shocked at his... her? ability).

"Explains yer scent well enough." Logan grunted dismissively. Mcgonagall looked nervously at the headmaster, questioning silently whether the boy should stay in the dorm with the others, after all, if he could be a female just as easily as he was male, should he be kept with the boys or the girls?

"This certainly raises a few awkward questions." Dumbledore observed sagely. "Certainly it isn't something we have a class for, not that we would have a hard time learning to deal with here." Xavier nodded, smiling at the older professor.

"Miss Riley," this time no one looked at him strangely for refering to the student as female, technically it could be true, and for a moment they wondered if he had known from the begining, "You explain your ability as though you already have some control over it, is that the only ablility you possess?" Once again Riley looked uncomfortable, the embarassed blush if anything darkening on his face. Dumbledore looked at the student curiously, as did almost everyone in the room, making Riley stutter nerously.

"I... well, I'm not... I think that... I may be able to change the gender of people I come into contact with?" That came with a bit more concern for the argument of him staying in the castle. Dumbledore blinked at the young man...er...girl? McGonagall looked at her nervously, and Fudge looked a bit green about the gills as he considered her... er... him.

"And how would you know of this ability?" Snape sneered at the gryphandor, she looked over at him nervously fidgitting. He actually got along better with Snape than most students, particularly among gryphandors, (they didn't get along well, but better than the other students,) but the situation was too awkward for him not to be scared and nervous.

"Well, um...I think I kind of... I changed my neighbors cat last summer." He could see the question on Professor McGonagall's face before she could find her voice to ask it. "It's a little hard not to notice when a male cat suddenly has kittens."

"And you're sure it couldn't have been another cat?" The woman asked.

"Another cat wouldn't have put the collar on." McGonagall scowled at the comment but looked at Dumbledore in concern. The headmaster looked at the boy over his glasses.


End file.
